Three members of the Russellville Board of Education have more than triple the required hours of training.

Margie Smith, Allan George and Wesley White each completed more than 20 hours of training in 2013.

Smith, who has the most hours at 25.25, has served on the board 14 years and said training is important.

"A wise state board member once told me that decisions made by a local board could have a lasting effect on the local district for up to 10 years, both positively and negatively, before they could be changed and those decisions need to made by informed, trained board members," she said.

Newly elected school board members are required to complete nine hours of training within 15 months of being elected. Returning board members are required to complete six hours of training each year, but are allowed to carry over extra hours for three years.

For example, if a newly elected board member got 20 hours of training in his first year, 11 hours would carry over and could be used to supplement training hours for up to the next three years.

Training standards — including required hours and whether or not training is certified — are set by the Arkansas School Board Association (ASBA).

For example, several board members in 2013 attended a training session organized by Superintendent Randall Williams that ended up not counting toward their required hours. The training wasn't sponsored, and the district didn't pay ASBA for it.

Morgan Barrett, a board member who attended the session, attended 4.75 certified hours in 2013 and carryover hours put him at 5.5 hours. He is scheduled to attend training that will put him over the required hours.

Barrett said the certified training needs vast improvements.

"Most training provided by the ASBA, that qualifies for credit, is of poor quality and little usefulness," he said. "Our president, Breanne Davis, has organized some of the best, most useful and productive training I have been a part of while on the board. This training did not qualify for credit."

White, who has served on the board two years and completed 20.75 training hours in 2013, said he sees the value in ASBA training.

"I have an upcoming training on school law provided by the Arkansas School Boards Association in March in Little Rock," he said. "Training is important because it helps me understand my role and responsibilities as a school board member."

Board members receive no compensation for attending training, but any expenses incurred are paid for by the district.

"It's unfortunate that we are required to attend a certain number of qualified training hours per year, regardless of their usefulness to us as a board members," Davis said. "At the end of the day, it isn't helping our students, school district, employees or community. Many of these trainings are an unwise use of tax dollars and simply feed the system rather than improving it."

Randy Campbell and Davis each attended 4.75 hours in 2013, but had enough carryover hours to put them both above the required level. Chris Cloud attended 7.75 hours in 2013 and his carryover hours put him further over the required hours.